Video system interface kernel

• US 8,316,407 B2
• Filed: 04/04/2006
• Issued: 11/20/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/04/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Lee, Mi-Suen, Lin, Yun-Ting, Ramsey, Carolyn Christine, Brodsky, Tomas
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Jay
• Assistant Examiner(s): TORRENTE, RICHARD T
• Application Number:
  US11/397,776
• Publication Number:
  US 20060225120A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,422 Days
• Field of Search: 348/143, 725/117
• US Class Current: 725/117
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4334 Recording operations recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4363 Adapting the video stream to a specific local network, e.g. a Bluetooth® network
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4402 involving reformatting operations of video signals for household redistribution, storage or real-time display details of conversion of video standards at pixel level H04N7/01; video transcoding H04N19/40; adapting incoming signals to the display format of the display terminal G09G5/005; media handling at the source in data packet switching networks H04L65/764
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4431 characterized by the use of Application Program Interface [API] libraries
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47205 for manipulating displayed content, e.g. interacting with MPEG-4 objects, editing locally
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47815 Electronic shopping payment schemes, payment architectures or payment protocols for electronic shopping systems G06Q20/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4782 Web browsing , e.g. WebTV
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8173 End-user applications, e.g. Web browser, game
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/163 by receiver means only

Abstract

A video interface kernel with a defined application program interface includes each of a plurality of core functions for interfacing with video equipment and video processing subsystems. The core functions include such functions as video capture and video output, video recording and playback, and event notification. Functions of the video interface kernel also include video analysis functions and/or interfaces to analysis subsystems, as well as interfaces to point-of-sale terminals, access control systems, and location tracking systems. An intelligent video management module facilitates managing the interactions among the other modules of the kernel, further simplifying the application level interface.

Claims

1. An interface kernel comprising:

a video capture module that receives images from one or more video sources,

a video recording module that records images to one or more storage devices,

a video playback module that plays back images from the one or more storage devices,

an event notification module that provides one or more notifications to an external notification system based on a detection of an event based on one or more of the images,

a management module that uses a predefined set of rule-based inferences to control one or more of the modules of the kernel, independently of commands received by the application program interface from the application program; and

a rule generator that provides an interface to a user to define rules for the predefined set of rule-based inferences; and

an application program interface that is independent of rule generator interface and that accepts commands from an application program to control each of the video capture, video recording, video playback, event notification, and management modules, and the rule generator wherein at least some of the video capture module, the video recording module, the video playback module and the event notification module have different communication standards at the video application level and the application program interface of the interface kernel provides a single, unified interface for users interfacing with the video capture module, the video recording module, the video playback module, the event notification module, the management module and the rule generator and where the control options of the application program interface are defined to be independent of specific commands required by the particular recording device to effect these options, thereby relieving a developer of the application program from the task of designing, testing, and verifying each interface to the recording devices, and from the task of integrating compression algorithms with each recording function.

2. The interface kernel of claim 1, including

a video and data transmission module that transmits video or textual data to one or more destinations;

wherein the application program interface accepts commands from the application program to control the video and data transmission module.

3. The interface kernel of claim 1, including

a camera control module that controls one or more of the video sources;

wherein the application program interface accepts commands from the application program to control the camera control module.

4. The interface kernel of claim 3, including:

a location tracking module that communicates with one or more location tracking systems,

wherein;

the application program interface accepts commands from the application program to interact with the location tracking module, and

the management module that controls interactions among one or more of the modules of the kernel and to control the camera control module, based on a result of the location tracking module.

5. The interface kernel of claim 1, including

a video analysis interface module that interacts with one or more video analysis components that analyze one or more of the images to identify one or more characteristics associated with the one or more images;

wherein the application program interface accepts commands from the application program to receive the one or more characteristic.

6. The interface kernel of claim 5, wherein

the management module controls interactions among one or more of the modules of the kernel.

7. The interface kernel of claim 6, including

a transaction terminal module that communicates with one or more transaction terminals;

wherein the management module controls the video analysis interface module based on a result from the video analysis interface module.

8. The interface kernel of claim 6, including

an access control module that communicates with one or more access control systems;

wherein the management module controls the access control module based on a result from the video analysis interface module.

9. The interface kernel of claim 6, including

a location tracking module that communicates with one or more location tracking systems;

wherein the management module controls the location tracking module based on a result from the video analysis interface module.

10. The interface kernel of claim 6, wherein:

the event notification module receives event notifications from one or more external sensors, and

the management module controls the video analysis interface module based on the event notifications.

11. The interface kernel of claim 6, wherein the management module:

determines an event occurrence based on the one or more characteristics,

enables the event notification module to provide a notification based on the event occurrence.

12. The interface kernel of claim 6, wherein the management module:

determines an event occurrence based on the one or more characteristics,

enables the video recording module to record the images based on the event occurrence.

13. The interface kernel of claim 6, wherein the management module:

determines an event occurrence based on the one or more characteristics, control the video recording module to record the images at a frame rate that is based on the event occurrence.

14. The interface kernel of claim 6, including

a camera control module that controls one or more of the video sources;

wherein the management module;

determines an event occurrence based on the one or more characteristics,

controls the camera control module based on the event occurrence.

15. The interface kernel of claim 5, including

a video analysis module that corresponds to at least one of the video analysis components.

16. The interface kernel of claim 1, including

a transaction terminal module that communicates with one or more transaction terminals;

wherein the application program interface accepts commands from the application program to interact with the transaction terminal module.

17. The interface kernel of claim 1, including

an access control module that communicates with one or more access control systems;

wherein the application program interface accepts commands from the application program to interact with the access control module.

18. The interface kernel of claim 1, including

a location tracking module that communicates with one or more location tracking systems;

wherein the application program interface accepts commands from the application program to interact with the location tracking module.

19. The interface kernel of claim 1, wherein

the management module controls interactions among one or more of the modules of the kernel.

20. The interface kernel of claim 1, wherein

the video capture module stores the images in a ring buffer that is accessible by one or more of the other modules.

21. The interface kernel of claim 1, wherein

the event notification module receives event notifications from one or more external sensors.

22. A system comprising:

an application program that controls a target system, an interface kernel that includes;

a video capture module that receives images from one or more video sources,

a video recording module that records images to one or more storage devices,

a video playback module that plays back images from the one or more storage devices,

an event notification module that provides one or more notifications to an external notification system based on a detection of an event based on one or more of the images,

a management module that uses a predefined set of rule-based inferences to control one or more of the modules of the system, independently of commands received by the application program interface from the application program; and

a rule generator that provides an interface to a user to define rules for the predefined set of rule-based inferences; and

an application program interface that that is independent of the interface of the rule generator and that accepts commands from the application program to control each of the video capture module, video recording module, video playback module, event notification module, the management module and the rule generator wherein at least some of the video capture module, the video recording module, the video playback module and the event notification module have different communication standards at the video application level and the application program interface of the interface kernel provides a single, unified interface for users interfacing with the video capture module, the video recording module, the video playback module, the event notification module, the management module and the rule generator and where the control options of the application program interface are defined to be independent of specific commands required by the particular recording device to effect these options, thereby relieving a developer of the application program from the task of designing, testing, and verifying each interface to the recording devices, and from the task of integrating compression algorithms with each recording function.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the target system includes an access control system.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein the target system includes a location tracking system.

25. The system of claim 22, wherein the target system includes a point of sale system.

26. A program on a non-transitory computer-readable medium that, when executed on a processing system, enables the processing system to

accept commands from an application program to control each of a video capture module, a video recording module, a video playback module, and an event notification module of the program;

control one or more of the modules of the program using a predefined set of rule-based inferences, independently of commands received from the application program; and

provide an interface to a user to define rules for the predefined set of rule-based inferences, the interface being independent of accepting commands from the application program;

wherein;

the video capture module receives images from one or more video sources,

the video recording module records images to one or more storage devices,

the video playback module plays back images from the one or more storage devices,

the event notification module provides one or more notifications to an external notification system based on a detection of an event based on one or more of the images, and

at least some of the video capture module, the video recording module, the video playback module and the event notification module have different communication standards at the video application level and the interface provides a single, unified interface for users interfacing with the video capture module, the video recording module, the video playback module and the event notification module and where the control options of the application program interface are defined to be independent of specific commands required by the particular recording device to effect these options, thereby relieving a developer of the application program from the task of designing, testing, and verifying each interface to the recording devices, and from the task of integrating compression algorithms with each recording function.

27. The program of claim 26, wherein

the processing system that accepts commands from the application program to control a camera control module of the program, and

the camera control module controls one or more of the video sources.

28. The program of claim 26, wherein

the processing system interacts with one or more video analysis components that are configured to analyze one or more of the images to identify one or more characteristics associated with the one or more images, and

the processing system accepts commands from the application program to receive the one or more characteristics.

29. The program of claim 26, wherein

the processing system accepts commands from the application program to interact with a transaction terminal module of the program, and

the transaction terminal module communicates with one or more transaction terminals.

30. The program of claim 26, wherein

the processing system accepts commands from the application program to interact with an access control module of the program, and

the access control module communicates with one or more access control systems.

31. The program of claim 26, wherein

the processing system accepts commands from the application program to interact with a location tracking module of the program, and

the location tracking module communicates with one or more location tracking systems.

32. The program of claim 26, wherein

the processing system controls interactions among one or more of the modules of the program.

33. The program of claim 26, wherein

the processing system receives event notifications from one or more external sensors.